Couple That Shackled Their Children on Trial

Thirteen children were being shackled, teased with food, and only allowed to shower once a year.

After years of this torture, their parents could finally go to prison. Their seventeen-year-old daughter managed to escape and called the police. Their parents, David and Louise Turpin, are pleading not guilty.

“If found guilty of the dozens of charges against them, the Turpin couple could receive 94 years to life in prison,” the BBC said.

“At first, the Turpin children were tied up with rope at their family home. But as they tried to get free, they were hogtied,” said Desert Sun.

It got to where they were not allowed to go to the bathroom.

Someone who went to school with the Turpin’s oldest daughter said this:  

“Mr Muntajibuddin, who attended nursery with her in Fort Worth, Texas, wrote that he felt ‘an overwhelming sense of guilt and shame’ when learning about the conditions his former classmate experienced at home.”

“You can’t help but feel rotten when the classmate your peers made fun of for ‘smelling like poop’ quite literally had to sit in her own waste because she was chained to her bed,” said BBC.

Angie Parra, a classmate at the Riverside County college, said in an interview with NBC Los Angeles that one of Turpin’s sons was an the introverted young man who was “sweet but odd” and wore the same clothing all semester.

“I could see sadness in his face,” Parra told the news station. “His eyes – he never wanted to make eye contact with anyone.”

Parra also recalled how her “famished” classmate once scarfed down food at a school potluck.

“He stood by the table and didn’t sit down with a plate,” Parra said in the NBC interview.

“He literally ate plate after plate after plate,” Desert Sun said.

Louise’s sister Elizabeth Flores has not been able to contact them in a long time.

“I want to reach out to the kids. I want them to know that, for years, we begged to Skype them, begged to see them…and I want them to know that they do have family that [loves them], whether they know us or not,” Flores said.